How the AI oligarchy devoured America How the AI oligarchy devoured America.

Today @motherjones.com is rolling out “Power Hungry,” our package on the AI oligarchs who are upending communities and destabilizing democracy in their quest for a new level of intelligence—and riches.
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How the AI oligarchy devoured America How the AI oligarchy devoured America.

Two years ago, we devoted an entire issue to the rise of a new American oligarchy. Since then, this system has only become more entrenched, ever concentrated around a crew of tech titans going all in on AI.

Our newest cover story investigates these new AI overlords and their consolidation of power.

Creating baby geniuses to thwart the AI threat? (Yes, really.) The new wave of Silicon Valley–backed gene-editing startups is straight out of “Brave New World.”

But could this same technology soon outsmart us all? That’s a real concern among some tech bros who want to create baby geniuses to protect us from the threat of AI.

@abbyvesoulis.bsky.social reports on the new wave of Silicon Valley–backed gene-editing startups straight out of “Brave New World.”

Polling has an AI respondent problem Democracy doesn't know what's coming.

Since last December, I have been obsessed with how AI has influenced polling and survey research, here is the tl;dr

1- Some researchers are using "silicon respondents" (AI bots) to simulate human responses
2- AI bots have gotten so advanced they can evade detection in some online surveys

The ugly history behind the Olympics’ new gender test How Nazi-era fears about gender gave rise to sex testing—and why the policy is resurfacing now.

“I think women’s sports always really activated the global right because of what sports success says about women’s independence.”

Fascinating interview on the IOC's gender testing decision with historian @michaelwaters.bsky.social, by @schuylermitchell.bsky.social:

"In the US, we see women’s sports as the starting point of a much larger push to disenfranchise and strip rights away from trans women ... The Nazis also focused on women’s sports because of the historical fact that women’s sports had been a site of deep gender anxieties since the Olympics started."

The ugly history behind the Olympics’ new gender test How Nazi-era fears about gender gave rise to sex testing—and why the policy is resurfacing now.

Chatted with the brilliant @michaelwaters.bsky.social about the new sex testing policy at the Olympics—which is really a revival of an earlier regime of gender surveillance & control. His book, The Other Olympians, traces this history to the 1936 Games in Berlin.
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Wormy food, intimidating guards, sick kids: Inside ICE’s only family detention center First-person accounts paint a bleak picture of the Dilley Immigration Processing Center.

Stories about life inside ICE's family detention center in Dilley, Texas, are hard to come by. But @julialurie.bsky.social reviewed hundreds of pages of sworn oral declarations given by detained children and their parents about conditions at the facility.

This is Dilley, in their own words:

We started a major war whose goal after a month is now to fix something that was only a problem caused by starting the war

DHS waited until it was sued to remind ICE agents about the First Amendment New legal filings reveal an internal scramble over an alleged “domestic terrorism” database.

NEW from @schuylermitchell.bsky.social: In a now-viral video, an ICE agent suggested to a Maine observer that she'd was going to be added to a domestic terrorism database. It wasn't until DHS was sued that the agency reminded ICE agents about the existence of the First Amendment.

DHS waited until it was sued to remind ICE agents about the First Amendment New legal filings reveal an internal scramble over an alleged “domestic terrorism” database.

NEW: Legal filings and emails reviewed by me reveal an internal scramble at DHS over its alleged “domestic terrorist” database of ICE observers.
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Top architecture firm won’t design more ICE prisons after employees revolt They thought their firm focused on humane design. Then they learned of the private detention center contract.

SCOOP: The #1 "Justice Facility" architecture firm in the country, DLR Group, has committed not work on ICE detention or deportation facilities, after workers raised ethical objections to a deal to turn an an old private prison in Oklahoma into a new ICE jail. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

First Trump scrapped “DEI” coins. Now the new dime is losing the olive branch. The America250 revisionism is coming for your pocket change.

The commemorative coin line is just one of many ways that the White House has used America’s 250th anniversary as an opportunity to crusade against diversity, equity, and inclusion and rewrite America’s history in Trump’s image

DHS wants to build a system to surveil Americans’ travel records

A Saturday scoop from @schuylermitchell.bsky.social: Previously unreported documents show that DHS wants to build a tool that would track personal travel data, including passenger names and their itineraries. Last year, a similar program was shuttered over public outcry.

DHS wants to build a system to surveil Americans’ travel records Previously unreported documents show the agency has asked companies for input. Last year, a similar program was shuttered over public outcry.

NEW from @schuylermitchell.bsky.social: DHS and the Secret Service want to build a tool for tracking US travelers’ flights and other personal information, according to previously unreported documents

DHS wants to build a system to surveil Americans’ travel records Previously unreported documents show the agency has asked companies for input. Last year, a similar program was shuttered over public outcry.

SCOOP: DHS & Secret Service are seeking input on a tool to surveil Americans’ flight records. It seems to be an attempt to recreate a controversial and now-defunct database.
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"How am I going to sell my house with this crap in my backyard?" ICE wants to turn warehouses into detention centers. The suburbs are fighting back.

My dispatch from the Jersey suburbs:
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"How am I going to sell my house with this crap in my backyard?" ICE wants to turn warehouses into detention centers. The suburbs are fighting back.

ICE wants to turn warehouses into detention centers. The suburbs are fighting back.

@schuylermitchell.bsky.social reports from a weekend protest in New Jersey:

New details from Epstein files reveal Lutnick had years-long business tie with sex offender The commerce secretary apparently still hasn't come clean on his connection with Epstein.

SCOOP: Previously unreported details in the Epstein files reveal Howard Lutnick & his firm had a years-long business tie with the sex offender. One email shows "HWL" discussing the investment with Epstein as late as 2018. Via @nlanard.bsky.social
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

New details from Epstein files reveal Lutnick had years-long business tie with sex offender The commerce secretary apparently still hasn't come clean on his connection with Epstein.

A MOTHER JONES SCOOP! New details from Epstein files reveal Lutnick had a years-long business tie with the sex offender. This challenges his claim he had minimal contact with Epstein. The two were involved in a deal for six years, and an email shows they discussed it. @nlanard.bsky.social

New details from Epstein files reveal Lutnick had years-long business tie with sex offender The commerce secretary apparently still hasn't come clean on his connection with Epstein.

New: Emails and documents from Epstein files reveal Howard Lutnick and his firm had a years-long business tie with the sex offender. The two were involved in a deal for at least six years, and an email shows "HWL" discussing the investment with Epstein in 2018.

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Hello Friday! Joining @zerlinamaxwell.bsky.social: @motherjones.com Assistant Editor @schuylermitchell.bsky.social, Midi Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kathleen Jordan + Tara Roberts, Author of Written in the Waters!

☎️ 866-997-4748
📻 @siriusxmprog.bsky.social Ch. 127
siriusxm.us/Zerlina

Six vital lessons from Minnesota’s general strike Minneapolis organizers weigh in on how to make the movement go national.

Okay, so you wanna do a general strike? Here's some real, practical advice on how to make it happen, from conversations with various Minnesota organizers.
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How to get away with anything: Trump’s sordid year of pardons No president has ever forgiven this much fraud—or stiffed this many victims.

While there have always been dubious pardons for political cronies, “unprecedented” doesn’t begin to describe how Donald Trump has corrupted the power of presidential forgiveness.

The Farcical Case Against Don Lemon and Georgia Fort for Protest Reporting The Justice Department is weaponizing a law intended to protect those seeking abortions to punish reporters covering anti-ICE activism.

Courts have warned about the danger of the FACE Act being abused by overzealous prosecutors for years.

Trump's war on history As America's 250th anniversary approaches, the president wants to control the country's future by bulldozing its past.

Inside Donald Trump's crypto-fueled war on America history www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

How ICE Already Knows Who Minneapolis Protesters Are

A Minnesota woman observing ICE agents in her car was cornered on one-way streets. An agent approached, called her by name—citing facial recognition. Days later, her Global Entry and TSA privileges were revoked, with no explanation.

ICE Deportation Flights Are Getting Longer and Crueler A private equity-owned airline profits off Trump’s migrant crackdown.

Deportation flights are cruel enough. Then add in an airline owned by private equity and...
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Go figure

bsky.app/profile/empt...

ICYMI: The Trump admin is charging Don Lemon & anti-ICE protesters with “conspiracy to deprive rights,” a category of crime enacted by the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871.

Prosecutors allege that an ICE official’s civil rights were violated.

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...